Nominations for IGU MGSC Awards 2026
Extended Deadline for submission: Oct 25, 2026
Nowadays, the IGU Outstanding Achievement Award and the Excellent Young Scholar Award in Modeling Geographical Systems (OAA 2026 and YSA 2026) are accepting nominations to recognize researchers for long and meritorious contributions to the geographic modeling research community, or young researchers for meritorious academic contributions in their early careers.
An awards committee will be organized by IGU through its Modeling Geographical Systems Commission (IGU MGSC), and it will solicit and evaluate the nominees and present the awards to the individuals in light of their excellent scientific achievements and contributions.
Eligibility
Nominees for the OAA 2026 are expected to have outstanding research contributions to geographic modeling and relevant fields.
Nominees for the YSA 2026 should have received a doctoral degree in the last seven years (no earlier than 2018) and have significant research contributions to geographic modeling and relevant fields.
Nominees for the YSA 2026 also should be IGU MGSC members.
Award Benefits
The award committee will select one awardee for OAA 2026, and the awardee will receive an award certificate and cash prizes (USD $500).
The award committee will select two awardees for YSA 2026, and each awardee will receive an award certificate and cash prizes (USD $300).
Submission Instructions
To nominate an award for OAA 2026, please submit the following documents as PDF files:
Nomination Letter: A personal statement is needed to describe the nominee’s contributions and achievements. The statement should be no more than 500 words.
Curriculum Vitae or Resume: The latest curriculum vitae or resume of nominees.
To nominate an award for YSA 2026, please submit the following documents as PDF files:
Nomination Letter: A personal statement is needed to describe the nominee’s contributions and achievements. The statement should be no more than 500 words. IGU MGSC Award Nomination Letter-2026
Curriculum Vitae or Resume: The latest curriculum vitae or resume of nominees.
Certificate of Academic Degree: The certificate can prove the eligibility of nominees.
Two Recommendation Letter: The recommender must have a formal professional role that allows them to assess the nominee’s achievements, current academic status and progress. The recommendation letter should be signed by the recommenders. Once prepared, the letter should be converted to a PDF format.
The Nomination Letter Template is attached as follow, and you can also find it under the “Awards” page of the official website of IGU MGSC (http://www.igu-geomodeling.com/Awards).
Nominators or nominees need to merge the mentioned documents into a single PDF file. Please submit the PDF file to Secretary General of MGSC, Prof. Wei Luo (geowl@nus.edu.sg), and cc to Dr. Zaiyang Ma (mzaiyang@outlook.com or mazaiyang@njnu.edu.cn), including “IGU MGSC Outstanding Achievement Award” or “IGU MGSC Excellent Young Scholar Award” in the email subject line. (Self-nominations are not accepted.)
You are welcome to submit nominations for the awards. The tentative dates for submission and notifications are as follows.
Deadline for submission: October 15, 2026, October 25, 2026
Deadline for notification to the awardee: November 15, 2026
If you have any questions about the awards, please feel free to contact Dr. Zaiyang Ma (mzaiyang@outlook.com or mazaiyang@njnu.edu.cn).
